Robbin Laird Dateline: Canberra, Australia On May 22, 2025, the first seminar of 2025 for the Sir Richard Williams Foundation was held at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. The seminar was entitled: The Imperatives for Cost Effectiveness in Multidomain Operations. The program for the seminar laid out the…
By Robbin Laird On 30 April 2025, I had the chance to talk with Major White, the Operations Officer at VMGR-252. This is a KC-130J squadron based at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point and is part of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. The last time I visited the…
By Robbin Laird Dateline: Canberra, Australia Australia's approach to littoral defense represents a strategic pivot that extends far beyond simple territorial protection. As outlined in the national strategy, this approach demands a fundamental rethinking of force deployment and equipment, creating opportunities for enhanced regional cooperation and security integration. Reframing Territorial…
By Robbin Laird In an increasingly complex and contested battlefield environment, the U.S. Marine Corps is adapting its aviation support strategy to meet emerging challenges. Captain Medlen, an eight-year Marine Corps veteran currently commanding the Engineers Company of Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 272, provided valuable insights into how distributed…
By Pierre Tran Paris - Britain and Germany have pledged to boost military spending in response to Russia’s bloody advance on Ukraine and uncertainty about U.S. defense efforts in Europe, sparking questions on how those funds will be found and what the rearmament drives will yield. Those two allied nations…
President Donald Trump has outlined a dramatic foreign policy shift during his recent address in Saudi Arabia. The speech signals what appears to be a fundamental realignment of American priorities in the Middle East and potentially reshapes the global balance of power. A New Vision for the Middle East Trump's…
An interview with Major Sean Timothy Penczak, Operations Officer with VMM-162 By Robbin Laird The MV-22 Osprey has come a long way since its early days as a novel tiltrotor aircraft. What began as a specialized assault platform has evolved into an incredibly versatile multi-mission aircraft capable of transforming Marine…
The paradigm shift in maritime operations involves moving away from concentrating power in capital ships to distributing capabilities across a network of assets. Distributed Maritime Effects (DME) are the effects created by this distributed force, often independent of or supplemental to traditional capital ship operations which are increasingly focused on…
